FEATURE: Student overcomes fears to join the activist front line

However, Hung said he often tells his family: “If we don’t stand up [to the government], we will be next on the list for oppression.”

Hung said his family have slowly come around to his way of thinking and began to understand his adamant adherence to his ideals.

Hung’s family professed incredulity at how easily Hung — who is afraid of sharp objects and is scared of taking a needle shot — can stand in front of the wire fences at protest sites.

Hung said he is still scared, but added: “I once saw an old man at a protest who broke ranks and charged at the wire fencing while shouting protest slogans.”

The man was cut in many places by the sharp wire and bled profusely, he said.

“It was then that I told myself that instead of letting these people, who have worked hard for most of their lives, take the front line against the cruelty of institutional systems and governmental violence, the younger generation should take their place,” Hung said, adding that his fears often turn into courage when witnessing the plight of the disadvantaged.

“We need to protect them, even if we get hurt physically, they cannot make us bend mentally,” he said.